(Izabella Kaminska: “Shame the card business model depended on egregious abuse of credit card partner terms and conditions. You gotta watch the video linked in the piece for the full splendor of the facepalm situation. I have to say, I was always shocked at how arrogantly triumphant all these card ICOs were about their access to CC services in their marketing. I am astounded people fell for it at all since the ability to issue a CC is the literal gateway into the regulated financial sphere. How or why people thought there would be exceptions granted here is truly befuddling.”)

Two US congressmen, one Republican (Ted Budd) and one Democrat (Darren Soto), introduce a pair of bipartisan bills about cryptocurrencies and ICOs. One is about manipulation — but the other is to promote cryptos. Anyone in the US who knows the area want to have a glance over these and write up what they mean and imply, and if there are lobbyist phrases you can spot? Meanwhile, Bitcoin bagholder and US Congressman Warren Davidson plans to introduce legislation to declare that ICO and ERC-20 tokens are not securities. I’m sure that will work out swimmingly for all, e.g. ICO scammers.

How’s blockchain in shipping going? This piece in the Journal of Commerce (archive, archive) advocates the use of smart contracts in shipping as a way to get blockchains accepted … then literally ends with an example of how, in real life, contractual clauses often aren’t enforced if they’d damage the human and business relationships.

So — I hear gossip (I’m not claiming this as solid enough to call “news”) that one partnership that KodakOne hasn’t announced is with Lenovo. Anyone know anything about that one? I’m surprised to hear even the whiff of a partnership that KodakOne hasn’t written a press release about …

Laurie Penny’s long-awaited 7000-word article on the CoinsBank Crypto Cruise has finally dropped, and it’s the best thing ever. Most widely acclaimed line: “McAfee has never been convicted of rape and murder, but — crucially — not in the same way that you or I have never been convicted of rape or murder.” This is pretty much the real-life version of The Basilisk Murders by Andrew Hickey (UK, US). “Blockchain doesn’t need more women, it needs more feminists.”

Jake Chervinsy posts a great Twitter thread on why the SEC will keep rejecting Bitcoin ETFs until the market is not a sea of blatant manipulation.

Larry Cermak in September: “The sheer amount of misinformation regarding the situation in Venezuela made the choice of research topic for this week’s Diar Newsletter easy. Showing volumes in Venezuelan bolívar, one of the fastest inflating currencies ever? Really?” I’ll repost this inside look from a local crypto fan about the situation in Venezuela.

Why KodakOne and Copytrack are both pointless — “The stock photo industry, both on licensor and licensee side, has thrived on a strong relationship of trust. They don’t need smart contract or copyright proof every time they license an image.”

Arjun Balaji: “I wonder if the institutional investors looking at allocating to crypto realize the ‘top’ fund managers have spent hours on Telegram this week analyzing the legitimacy of claims made by a woman from Burning Man who predicts the return (and sale) of Satoshi’s coins next month.” Here’s the video. It’s … remarkable.

CME’s Bitcoin Futures Are Poisoning Crypto! How to remedy this? “It will take a total collapse of the dollar to free gold and Bitcoin from this highly coordinated, top-level, worldwide market manipulation.” … OK. RIght you are then.

(Bitcoin was founded in ideology, but the question that haunts it is always going to be “yes but what does it do, and how well?” — and certainly as long as the answers are “not much, and not very”. Endless discussion of “but what is Bitcoin’s platonic essence” is a symptom of a lack of visible use.)

The “right way” to view cryptos is “as lottery tickets that pay off in a dystopian future where they are used in rogue and failed states,” says economist Kenneth Rogoff. CoinDesk put this in their email newsletter as what’s passing for good news for Bitcoin these days. Grim meathook Mad Max petrolpunk future now!

Cas Piancey from crypto Twitter is writing a book about our boi, Tether. Number five by market cap!!

I’m currently working on a review of Life after Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy by George Gilder (US, UK). It’s an odd book, and bits will only make sense if you realise the author is literally a creationist, and the co-founder of the Discovery Institute. Anyone else in blockchain land read this?

For what it’s worth — US government figures show the popularity of crypto doubling between 2014 and 2016!

.@davidgerard’s “Attack of the 50ft Blockchain” is one of the very rare tech books to age like fine wine.

Published in the heady days of mid-2017, it somehow manages to discuss the second crypto bubble with the detachment of a historian writing about Tiberius Caesar.

Many people have seen their crypto fortune go up in the smoke this year. This unique business (based on the site of defunct crypto exchange) combines both smoke & crypto. Possibly the world's only combined Bitcoin exchange and Vape shop. What do you think @izakaminska@ofnumberspic.twitter.com/3o7YsA0eyB

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The content of this site is journalism and personal opinion. Nothing contained on this site is, or should be construed as providing or offering, investment, legal, accounting, tax or other advice. Do not act on any opinion expressed here without consulting a qualified professional. I do not hold a position in any crypto asset or cryptocurrency or blockchain company.